Gender Issues in Groupwork—a case study involving with with computers

The paper reports my work as a teacher researcher on the Economic and Social Research Council funded project, ‘Groupwork with Computers’. It looks at intervention strategies that were adopted to promote gender equality and explores briefly other gender issues that emerged from the study. Data were gathered by interviewing pupils and colleagues and by classroom observation. It addresses the concerns of those teachers who find that despite their sensitivity to gender as an issue, the expected benefits do not necessarily accrue. It suggests that a greater emphasis on collaborative groupwork might in these circumstances be a fruitful path to pursue, in particular by encouraging children, and especially boys, to focus on their partners as well as the task.